Distance
by WonderNA
Summary: Miroku searches for a way to end his curse once and for all. WARNING this fic will eventually have Mpreg. Its a challenge response from many years ago and I think I can finally pull it off.


WARNING This will eventually be a yaoi fic.

He walked silently through the trees, contemplating his predicament. The beads covered his right eye today. Their location seemed to change with the sunset. That wasn't all that had changed over these past 100 years. Now many beads covered his outfit, a robe made for him by his love before she passed away. His old staff had been replaced long ago by one beautifully carved by his son, who had also passed. His youngest daughter was all that remained of his children, and as he walks the familiar path to her house, he knows it will not be for much longer. His heart aches, knowing that soon he will be alone aside from a few grandchildren who moved on to parts of the world he dare not visit. This is his home. He will stay to watch over his loved ones who have passed, until he too can find a way to join them.

But the curse… the curse that lingers still, after all this time.

He saw it disappear that night.

That night, he swore his palm was free from it. But by morning he discovered it had just moved to the top of his left shoulder blade. If not for his fast-thinking wife, something terrible might have happened. He found out much more about the curse after that. His research indicated it was much older than he assumed. The demon who cursed him came across the affliction in a sealed room at the lord's house he had overrun. Apparently there were stages to the curse, complex and intricately weaved throughout life events. Somehow, when it would threaten to overcome him, something would happen in his life that caused it to shrink back down. His marriage to his wife, the birth of each of their children, the death of his friends, the death of his wife, all worked to keep the curse in check. But now this would be the last time. The last time it would reset. There was nothing else for him after this. He hoped it would just swallow him into nothingness after tonight. But he knew better.

As he reached the door with the old charms carved into the frame he sighed.

He did not want to enter. Not to see it again. But her coughing caused him to push it open. He needed to see her one more time, his sweetest and youngest of all of his children.

She was still beautiful like her mother, her husband holding her hand. His hair was white as ever and puppy ears twitched at the sound of the door. He turned, a weak smile welcoming his old friend. "Miroku, you're late."

"Inuyasha, perhaps you are early?" he replied trying, yet failing to be witty at a time like this. He sat down next to the woman. "I am here," he whispered as his hand brushed away her hair. The woman smiled, but could not speak, nor open her eyes. The three of them sat like this deep into the night, until her last breath left her. The two men sat together a long while.

Miroku relocated his beads to his forearm to cover the migrating wind tunnel, much smaller now that his daughter had passed on.

"How do you know where to move them?" Inuyasha asked, as he gave his friend a cup of tea. Miroku looked at his arm. "It feels like an itch, like that from a bug bite. Once I actually got bit by a bug… mistaking it for the movement of the wind tunnel, I removed the beads from the real one and nearly destroyed this poor woman's house. I told her it was all part of the cleansing so she still paid me."

Inuyasha laughed at the ridiculousness, but noted the exhaustion in his friend's eyes. He could see it had only gotten worse throughout his quest. "Why don't you just let it swallow you up so you can finally rest?"

Miroku sighed. His friend was still the same, slightly dimwitted. "I have tried. The nature of it has changed. It seems to want to preserve me now."

The two sat in silence. "What will you do now Inuyasha?" Miroku asked.

"I think will travel now, visit the children and tell them about their mother's passing. What about you, Miroku?"

He contemplated his answer. "Find a way to end this curse once and for all, so it will not plague my grandchildren. Then hopefully I can find some peace."

A/N: This will be rated m for .

For the MA version go to allsystemsred dor org.


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